author of young adult fiction

Blog-Destroying Owls, Snarling At Goodreads, And Too Much Sick

So, first things first: If you tried to get to my blog yesterday and were redirected to a YouTube video about the Top 25 Hollywood Sex Scandals, well . . .

I hope you enjoyed it!

NOT.

Stupid hackers.

Luckily, back in September when my site was hacked the first time, I signed up with an online security company called Sucuri. They monitor my website 24/7, scanning it every 30 seconds for signs of foul play.

Or fowl play, which is twice as troublesome. And much more . . . feathery.

So anyway, they emailed me about some weird stuff going down on the blog, and I logged in and confirmed that there were sketchy happenings afoot, and then I said, “Hey, could y’all take care of that for me?”

And lo, they did. Within two hours, they removed every trace of the malware.

This service costs something like $90 per year, which might sound expensive, but if you think about it, $7.50 a month is a small price to pay for that kind of technical support at your beck and call.

And now, let us pretend there is some sort of logical segue between the previous section on web security / malicious Pokemon owls and the next section on my Goodreads Pity Party.

So, you know how I unpublished The Clearing? Well, I wanted to take it off of all websites, including Goodreads, because if I’m going to unpublish it, I’d like for it to be completely unpublished.

But, even though I created my Goodreads author account and I personally uploaded all the information about The Clearing, guess what?

They will not let me take it down. Here is the message I got from them today:

It appears that Goodreads not only has the power to tell me what to do, they can also time travel. I received their message on Feb. 29, but apparently, they sent it on the afternoon of March 1. WHAT VOODOO IS THIS, GOODREADS.

Hmm.

That little nugget of information would have been good to know before I committed to having my book on Goodreads FOREVER.

And also they sound REALLY, REALLY SORRY.

I mean, I get it. I do. I guess I’m just already so irritated with Goodreads for such a multitude of things that this was like ONE MORE SLAP to the face.

(Did you know people can rate books on Goodreads before they are even in ARC form, when not even the author’s editor has seen the manuscript–which has resulted in several authors receiving one and two star reviews for books that are still incomplete Word documents? Even after lots of people wrote in to complain, Goodreads refused to change this policy.)

Anyway, I’d better change the subject before I get myself in trouble with the Goodreads police. They might beat me with copies of my own STILL LISTED book.

Let’s see . . . oh, thanks for all your comments on my counseling post yesterday. I really appreciated it! Y’all have made all this so much easier. Seriously. You ROCK.

People keep telling me how much they appreciate me talking about the depression stuff on the blog. Several people have said they’re glad I’m not too proud to talk about it. And I get what they mean, but honestly, I’ve never had the inclination to keep things like this private. I always tell people about the messes in my life, because if I can’t talk about it–if I try to deal with it by myself–I will actually, legitimately, drive myself insane.

Also? I’m pretty sure everybody else is just as screwed up as I am. OKAY, okay, everybody but YOU. And you, and you.

But the REST of you are right there with me. And it’s all so much harder when you don’t have community, don’t you think? I’d rather live in community where we all embrace each other’s wackiness than live in solitude and have people think I live a perfect life.

And lastly, I did some calculations today. I have been sick for roughly 25 of February’s 29 days.

Post navigation

12 thoughts on “Blog-Destroying Owls, Snarling At Goodreads, And Too Much Sick”

How weird is Goodreads? I mean, why are people reviewing unedited documents? I get reviewing an ARC but you obviously are reading an ARC for the story, not perfect grammar and spelling. Ugh.

I’m sorry you still feel so yuck. Let me brighten your day a bit….I PASSED MY COMPS!!!!! Ok, so it really might not be all that exciting for you, but MAN it is for me! And seriously, as soon as you’re feeling better, we. must. hang. I’m getting jealous of Harley. And I want to hang with her too. So, we need some tres amigos time.

Well–the thing is, those people have not even read the book yet. NO ONE has read the book yet. They are simply handing out low ratings for the fun of it, or because they don’t like the author, or whatever.

And HEEEEEY! Congrats on the comps!! And I’d love to hang out anytime! Once I get better, anyway.

The Goodreads bit would upset me too. I felt this way back when I wanted to delete my Facebook account and found out that it’s not possible. I can deactivate it, but it will always be there in the dark waiting for me to log back in. And then voila! There it is completely intact. So aggravating.

Also, I didn’t comment on your last post but I meant to. I’m glad you’re talking about the depression stuff and maybe we can talk about it sometime. I think I’m having anxiety problems. I’m making a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, and really, as much as I’m anti-medication I really think I’d go for it if it would help me. Anyway, FEEL BETTER and write FASTER!

Lots of things we have to deal with if we put our books out there. That is really weird about Goodreads.

And to let you know, I like a PERSONAL blog. So keep being personal. (I have a younger brother, who recently died, who suffered greatly from depression. I hope YOU are doing okay and can keep writing. Nothing in this life is easy!)Ann Best, Memoir Author of In the Mirror & Imprisoned